Missoula road trip

Tammy wanted to go on a road trip this weekend.  Initially I thought of driving to Great Falls, Montana.  However, between the almost four hour drive, a Winter weather advisory in the mountains and Marias Pass, and not getting out of bed until almost 10 am, led us to change plans.  We decided to drive to Missoula, Montana.  This is only two hours away.

Before we left I had to put Daisy in the house. She had been ignoring us calling for her and planned to snooze on some rugs in the garage until I found her.

The weather was decent.  The scenery very nice.  Here are views of the Mission Mountains from around Polson, then Ronan, Montana.

Near Polson...

Near Ronan...

In Missoula we stopped at an expo held by a friend of Tammy's. We arrived at the expo just as it was ending.

Then we stopped at a Cracker Barrel as Tammy heard good things about this store.  We found lots of "old time" (that is, baby boomer) candy we haven't seen in a long time.  I bought a Bit-O-Honey bar I remembered as a kid.  Tammy remembered "Chick-O-Stick" which is unknown to me. I bought one of those.  At a candy store in the Southgate mall I bought a "Big Cherry" candy.  The packaging and name and description was similar to "Bing Cherry" candies I knew as a kid and didn't realize the difference until later.  We have yet to eat our candies.  Tomorrow.

I also found a novelty item that I think may also amuse Daisy.  We'll see tomorrow.

Before returning to Kalispell we ate at the Red Robbin restaurant.  Good food.

Tammy's meal: Chicken Caesar salad wrap

We got home just after dark.

More hay

Thursday the cattle finished off the first large hay bale.  It only lasted 4 1/2 days.  Once the cattle finished off the hay and went to the north pasture to chew their cud, I shut the corral gate so I could work undisturbed.

The snow and ice never melted under the previous hay bale.

To make the move go faster Tammy helped me by driving the pickup as I managed the chains around the hay and pallet.  The corral was slippery from mud and manure, and even with four wheel drive the pickup's tires would spin after pulling the bale and pallet a short distance as the mud and manure would build up in front of the pallet.  Tammy had to often back up and give it a run to keep moving the bale and the pallet it sat on.  I managed the chains.

Corral's water, mud and manure.

Once the bale was in place the cattle decided to return to check the bale out.  Beulah came running with the rest of the cattle quickly behind her.

Grandpa Whiskers brought up the rear.

"V" tree break

This morning the "V" tree south of the house had one side lean down to the ground.  I discovered the tree trunk on this side had a large tear in it.  I spent much of the day cutting it down with a chainsaw.

How the tree on the left looked this Winter before the tear.

Leaning down.

The tear.

Because of the fence I had to cut the tree trunk down in sections.  For this cut I had the ladder on the other side of the fence.  Because of the trunk's thickness I cut the trunk from both sides.  I wasn't sure if the tree would fall to the right or left.  I had Tammy watch to warn me as it can be hard to see when one is close to the trunk and holding a chainsaw.

I was on the left when the tree came down.  To the left.  What saved me was this is where the trunk ended up on the ground.  When the trunk fell I jumped off the ladder and tossed the chainsaw away as I jumped.  Since the trunk's end did not fall further I avoided getting hurt.

When cutting the remaining part of the trunk I had Tammy pull the tree trunk's end with a rope.  I was concerned the very end may fall on the fence.  The problem I encountered is that the trunk had a rotten piece in it and I didn't know it.  I again had to cut one side of the trunk then the other. The rotted section was among the last I cut. I thought I had more trunk to cut when I cut through the end of the good trunk and reached the rotted part.  The tree trunk fell quickly, towards me and on my ladder.  Again I had to jump off the ladder tossing my running chainsaw as I jumped.  No damage to me or the chainsaw.  The ladder is toast.  Here is how the ladder looked after I straightened it quite a bit.

See the rotted section?

Daisy performed a "cat scan" of the bad tree trunk.  Daisy does not like loud noises and hung back while Tammy and I worked on the tree.  Once I turned the chainsaw off she came and inspected my work.

Even with all my efforts to avoid the fence, part of the tree came down on the fence as I cut the rest of it up.  Fortunately the fence did not break.

Tonight the trunk is all cut up.  The tree sap was only starting to rise.  A few branches leaked sap after I cut them.  Otherwise the cutting went better than if the sap had risen.  The work would have went faster if the chainsaw chain was sharper.

Tomorrow if it doesn't rain I will cut up the huge pile of branches and haul them off for later burning on a tree stump.

Night lights

The ski resort has night skiing on the weekends.

Tall Pines lakes

Lots of standing water everywhere...  below is an area in the hayfield that is normally dry but now has so much water I could swim in it.

Round bales moved

I finally moved the round hay bales.  It took all afternoon.

First I had to get extra wooden pallets on which to roll the bales beyond the water.  The bales are large enough I can only barely roll them on level ground.  Also, since they sat all Winter they are a little flat on one side.  So I had to use a chain and my pickup to start them rolling.

Once one bale was beyond the water and on a pallet I used the pickup to pull the bale and pallet out into the corral at its highest point. Good thing I have four wheel drive on the pickup as the corral is: wet, muddy, icy, and manure covered. Half of the pallet disintegrated by the time I was done.  Then I had to tip the round metal feeder on its side, roll it over to the bale and then drop it over the bale.  Talk about weight lifting!

I rolled the other three bales up to higher ground in the loading corral. Again I had to use the pickup and chain to start the rolling of the two larger bales, and later to get the bales up the few inches to higher ground.

The frost is not leaving and the "lake" is getting bigger.

Can you believe this is how the area looked four days ago?!

The bales had just stayed out of the water but I found some loose ends of twine frozen into ice and had to be broken.  Also parts of the bale flaked off due moving and the broken twine.

I had covered the bales with tarps over Winter to keep the rain and snow off the bales.  I found some areas of wet hay that was soon going to mold. These areas were at the top of two bales.  Either the water found a way through the tarps, else the tarps did their job too well and kept ground moisture inside the tarp and against the hay.

The largest tarp is still frozen to the ground under a railroad tie I cannot pry loose.  The other tarps are enough to cover the tops of the remaining bales.  100% chance of rain tomorrow.

I also had a large grey mouse among the hay when I worked.  At the end I saw the mouse slip under the loose hay and an end pallet.  For once Daisy wasn't around as she took a nap in the barn.  I didn't realize she was there and when I picked stuff up at the end and shut the barn door Daisy got trapped inside.  I heard her meowing later when I was trying to get the calves to move from south of the barn to north of it to join their mothers and the hay.

The cattle missed their 1 pm feeding while I worked on moving the hay.  I had locked the cattle out of the corral as I worked.  They behaved quite well.  They hung around the corral gate and didn't moo too much.  Once I opened the gate they went right for the bale with Beulah in the lead. After everyone excitedly roamed around and around the bale to find the best hay they settled down for serious eating.  Hours later they were still eating.  Beulah and another cow are big enough they can eat off the top of the bale.

Momma and Beulah

For now I no longer have to go out and feed them four times a day.  Yay!

Still working on water

Around 6 pm I finally pried the last railroad tie free from the ice and was able to get the tarp up out of the ice.  It is hard to see but this side (the former bottom) of the tie still has a thick later of ice on it.

Tomorrow I will roll the hay bales to higher ground and get one over to the cattle. I'm still pumping water from the area. Elsewhere, in the driveway half the water soaked into the ground and also in a few other areas.  If only it would do that where the large hay bales are located.

When I went out late to feed the cattle and check on the bales, even though the corral is wet, muddy and manure covered, Daisy came with me.  Daisy can climb up the fence and over onto the bales as seen here. When it was time to go she wanted me to get her so she wouldn't have to climb down the fence and potentially fall into the water.  As Tammy says... "Such a princess!"

Good thing I placed the bales on pallets.

The cattle today wasted hay.  The adults spilled some hay over the side of their feeder into the water and mud and manure.  The yearlings tipped over their feeder and this allowed manure colored water into the feeder ruining the last of the hay in the feeder.

*sigh*


It was cloudy all day but the sun broke through on the mountains briefly at sunset.

Water problems

Lots of snow. Frozen ground. Very cold then a rapid warm up. It rained all of last night and at times poured rain. The water has no where to go.

The driveway is under water.

Low areas out in the hayfield collect water.

Now the problem...

I have some small hay bales left to feed the cattle but I planned to now switch to using the large hay bales. Normally most of the snow is gone by the 1st of March.  Not this year.

First I had to remove all the recent snow around the big bales.  Tuesday I shoveled half the snow.

Today, Thursday, this is what I found at noon. While this is not a low area, it is a few inches lower than the land around the loading corral. And since we have lots of water all of a sudden... I have a problem. Good thing I had placed the bales on wooden pallets to keep them off the ground.  I got a pump to remove the water before it rose higher.  In the afternoon the water came from snow melt as fast as I pumped it away.  Finally in the evening I got ahead of the water and lowered the amount.

Another problem is that the tarp is frozen in ice.  For our mid-January thaw apparently some water collected here that I didn't see.  Everywhere else melted water eventually disappeared into the ground. Not here as the bottom is an inch of ice. The tarp is frozen into the ice. As the ice is under water it is not softening and melting.

Tomorrow I hope to get the tarp free and a bale out for the cattle.

Daisy helped me as I worked.  When she got tired of sitting on the tarp she climbed up the fence and eventually climbed on top of a railroad tie.

Daisy telling me it is time to go back to house.

More weather

Hopefully the saying is true: "In like a lion, out like a lamb".   This weekend has been cold, windy and snowy.  All weekend. And lots of each.  Tammy planned a Tastefully Simple tasting party for her team on Sunday and she had to postpone it until next weekend due to the weather.  So we have a refrigerator full of food.

Sunday morning Daisy was bored and really wanted to go outside.  Numerous times in the morning she indicated she wanted to go outside hoping each time the weather would be better.  Tammy or I would open the door and Daisy would see what the weather was like and then turn around... disappointed.  Lots of meowing in the morning until Daisy gave up and settled down for an afternoon nap.

You can't burn this cardboard... it is mine!

The cattle's fur must really protect them as the snow on the cattle is not melting.

Temperatures always around zero F requires the stock tank heater to be used.   The small open area is because I hadn't used the heater earlier overnight.

All weekend I have shoveled and re-shoveled pathways to all the buildings and the corral.  I shoveled part of the driveway since Tammy goes to work tomorrow.  It is still snowing and the forecast has non-stop snow for the next couple days before we return to normal temperatures and the snow changes to rain.